Manchester City have won just two of their last seven league games but they remain well in the title race with their rivals unable to pull away from them.
They returned from success at the Club World Cup to claim a 3-1 win over Everton on Wednesday evening and will be looking to get the better of strugglers Sheffield United when they host them at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The Blades suffered a major blow in their bid to stay up as they were beaten 3-2 by Luton Town last time out, conceding two own goals in the second half to keep them bottom of the table.
Team news
The Citizens’ John Stones suffered an ankle injury against Everton and looks likely to be sidelined for a period of time.
Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku and Ruben Dias are all major doubts for this match-up too.
United also suffered a major blow last time out as Anel Ahmedhodzic and Gustavo Hamer both picked up their fifth yellow cards, meaning they are suspended for this game.
Loanee James McAtee is unable to face his parent club, while Daniel Jebbison, John Egan, Chris Basham and Tom Davies are all injured.
The stats
The Blades have the worst away record in the division, having taken just two points from a possible 27 on their travels.
No team has sustained more Premier League losses with four goals or more in a match this season than Sheff Utd’s six.
The men from Manchester have won the last seven meetings between these two teams.
Prediction
City have not quite been the team that won the treble last season, but they remain within touching distance of Liverpool and Arsenal and won their first game back after the Club World Cup, beating Everton 3-1 at Goodison Park.
The Citizens have not been at their best defensively for most of the current campaign and suffered a further blow when John Stones sustained an injury against the Toffees.
The fact that Pep Guardiola’s men are still well in the title race given their struggles at the back and the injury to Kevin De Bruyne should concern their rivals.
They should have too much for the Blades, who have drawn two and lost seven of their nine away games this term.
However, Chris Wilder’s have been able to get on the scoresheet fairly regularly and given the Citizens’ issues at the back they can net in defeat.